Team Leader Cover Letter: Writing Guideline, Examples and Ready-to-Use Template

As the group’s driving force, team leaders offer guidance to all members to ensure they are performing their tasks effectively, staying focused, and working towards the organization’s goals. Team leaders also need to resolve any problems within the team that can hinder job performance. This is undoubtedly a challenging position that calls for numerous responsibilities, which is why team leaders need to have specific qualities and skill sets to succeed in this role. 

These are hard to convey in a resume, so a powerful team leader cover letter will do the job! Hiring managers expect to see why you think you're the right fit through your examples of leadership accomplishments, qualifications, and more. 

Check out our professional team leader cover letter sample and template below to get started, and refer to our extra tips to get a leg up on the competition.

Now that you have know how a team leader cover letter should look like with our example above, in this section, you'll learn important steps to writing a cover letter for the leadership position.

Step 1: Address the hiring manager

Doing this instead of using generic salutations like “Dear Hiring Manager" or “To Whom It May Concern" is a good way to grab the employer's attention right away. They feel that you've reviewed the job posting carefully and put much effort into the application. 

If you already know the hiring manager’s gender or marital status, go with “Dear Mr./Miss [Last Name,”. If not, just address them using their full name.

Step 2: Start with an engaging self-introduction & opening

To kick off a cover letter for the team lead role, you should introduce who you are, explain your interest in the position, and provide a brief statement of your qualifications. Besides that, mentioning your previous experience, life stories, or career aspirations can impress the hiring manager in the first place.  

Example paragraph from a cover letter for the call center's team leader position:

Step 3: Present your qualifications in the body paragraph

Now it's showtime! 

In this section, you need to describe what you’ve done to lead the team and work towards the objectives, instead of just listing what tasks you've handled in the last role. Being specific is how to write about leadership in your cover letter. 

Your technical skills are also what hiring managers expect to know so that they can make sure you’re able to perform specific tasks. Besides that, it's important to mention leadership skills and qualities in your your team leader cover letter, such as: 

• Communication skills
• Decision-making
• Problem-solving
• Conflict-resolution
• Task delegation
• Integrity
• Self-awareness
  

Example paragraph from a cover letter for the team leader position with no experience:

Step 4: End your cover letter with a strong CTA

After making your case in the previous paragraphs, you’ll need to end your team leader cover letter with a strong call to action to entice the hiring manager to offer you the interview opportunity. This is also an effective way of reminding them to have a look at your attached files like your resume and portfolio. 

Example paragraph from a cover letter for the team leader position in the warehouse: 

Step 5: Sign off in a professional manner

Finally, include a proper sign-off and write your full name at the end of your cover letter for the team leader role, and then you're all set!

1. Research the role  

You may know what tasks you'll have to handle if you're offered the job. However, don't forget to look for vital information about the team and the employer before starting to write your leadership cover letter, for example:

• Team size 
• Team diversity
• Work environment
• Company culture

This research will help you tailor your team leader cover letter to the job you're applying for and decide on the right tone. The hiring manager also knows that you're not sending a generic one to multiple roles. 

2. Showcase your achievements 

This is a great way to prove that your qualifications match the job you are applying for. As a team leader, you have to excel at managing and supervising people, but motivating them to achieve results as well.

3. Insert relevant keywords from job description

For those applying for the team leader role without hands-on experience, your application might not be considered as much as experienced professionals. Don't panic - the tip is to incorporate specific keywords related to skills and requirements into your team leader cover letter. That way, it can go through the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) and successfully reach hiring managers.

— Originally written by May Luong —